Water Permeation through Elastomer Laminates I. Neoprene/EPDM

Abstract

Abstract Two elastomers namely, neoprene and EPDM and their laminates were used to measure the permeation rates of distilled water and salt water at 23°, 40°, and 60°C. For laminates, the rates were measured in both directions. The laminates showed a directional dependence of permeation rate. These rates were lower than the arithmetic mean of the two single layers, but higher than the theoretical calculated values. Effect of temperature on permeation rate had an Arrhenius-type behavior, and the activation energies fall within the range for those membranes that follow activated transport mechanism. Tentative mechanisms were proposed for the directional flow behavior in regard to concentration-dependent permeation.